Home › News › County News
Officials OK boat ban at Casitas
Mussel infestation fear spurs year-long limit
Multimedia and more
Interactive: Quagga quandary
An interactive map showing the spread of quagga mussels in So. California and the damage they can do. View now »
Video: Protecting Casitas
Lake Casitas officials may close the popular fishing lake to outside boats. Watch now »
Related articles:
Lake Casitas boat ban has ripple effect
Westlake Lake joins boat ban linked to mussel
Officials OK boat ban at Casitas
STORY TOOLS
More from County News
Despite the pleas of scores of fishermen who flock to Lake Casitas for its trophy-sized bass, officials voted Tuesday night to close the lake to outside private boats for one year in an effort to keep the invasive mussels out of the reservoir.
The ban, which takes effect immediately, will not allow boats from outside the lake because officials fear quagga mussels attached to a boat could multiply and cause millions of dollars in damage to infrastructure and change the ecology of the lake.
Fishing from shore, from rented boats or on vessels permanently stored at the lake will still be permitted. Officials repeatedly said the ban is not permanent.
Casitas is the largest, most popular lake in California to enact such stringent measures to protect itself against the quagga mussel. Fishermen feared other lakes would follow suit as the quagga problem continues to spread around the West.
In a debate that lasted 3 1/2 hours with nearly 300 people packed in the cafeteria at Nordhoff High School in Ojai, fishermen from around the state admonished the Casitas
Municipal Water Board to keep the lake open. The fishermen said they would do everything in their power to keep the dreaded quagga mussels at bay.
But the board ultimately voted 3-2 to close the lake to the roughly 30,000 boats that launch there annually, saying that while they understand the concerns of the fishermen, the primary job of the district is to provide water to more than 60,000 rate payers in western Ventura County.
Board members Bill Hicks and Jim Word were the dissenting votes, saying while they think a temporary ban is needed, one year is too long. But the board members who voted for the measure said the closure, which might not last an entire year, is greatly needed so they can figure out how to keep the mussels at bay.
Taking a breather
“What we are really grappling with is we want to take a breather and get our ducks in a row,” said board member Rich Handley. “We are not going to close you guys out; this is not permanent.”
Board members hoped their vote would send a message to state and federal agencies, which they said are dragging their feet in dealing with the quagga issue, board member Russ Baggerly said.
But for the 27 fishermen who spoke and the hundreds in the audience who applauded their comments, the temporary closure was a huge blow.
“Closing Lake Casitas would effectively kill it as one of our country’s top three bass fisheries,” said Ron Cervenka, who organizes bass tournaments at the lake. “Understand that the attention you are going to take tonight is not going to affect just Lake Casitas. There are other lakes waiting for you to make your decision, and your decision would point them in the direction.”
Cachuma Lake is next
The Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors is scheduled to discuss a temporary ban at Cachuma Lake on Tuesday for similar reasons. Casitas started addressing quagga mussels about a year ago, shortly after they were discovered last year in Nevada’s Lake Mead.
The quagga, as well as the zebra mussel, has done more than $5 billion in damage to the Great Lakes after it was brought from the Ukraine inside a ship ballast. It is believed that the mussels got to Lake Mead via a boat. Since then, the mussels have spread through the Colorado River system into other lakes and reservoirs.
One lake in San Diego County was closed to outside boats with the hopes of keeping the mussels away, but it didn’t have nearly the number of fishermen that Casitas attracts.
Earlier this year, the closely related zebra mussel was discovered for the first time in California in a San Benito County reservoir south of San Francisco.
Quagga mussels, which can reproduce up to 1 million offspring a year, can quickly take over a lake, clog pipes and filters and cause a maintenance nightmare for water delivery systems. Casitas officials have said that an infestation could financially break the district.
The mussels can also alter a waterway’s ecosystem by eating away the bottom of the food chain and starving fish and other animals that depend on the microorganisms.
Fishermen pleaded that not only would they lose their recreation, but businesses around Ventura County would also be affected.
Ojai resident Larry Elshere did an informal survey of local businesses and said he estimates the loss of revenue to the county could be as high as $1.8 million.
“Before you make your final decision, I hope you take into account how it will affect the merchants and the businessmen in the community,” he said.
Joe Nasta said he recently retired and worked his whole life to get to the point where he could fish a few days a week on his new bass boat.
“What am I going to do when you close the lake?” he asked.
One of the most passionate appeals of the night came from actress Diane Ladd.
“If closing the lake would assure us pure water, I’d say go ahead, but if you have no proof that closing the lake will guarantee clean water, I beg you not to close the lake,” she said.
Download this story as a podcast!
Posted by WaterSource on March 5, 2008 at 6:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Quagga mussel must be avoided at all costs! In the Great Lakes, Quagga is eatten by round goby fish which are eatten by birds & fish and the birds & fish die by the thousands because of the concentrated Botulism E in the bodies of Quagga.
Ms. Quagga mussel with her ability to lay a million eggs a year with exponential growth can be expected to soon obstruct present delivery systems which will cost millions each year to repair and may render some systems totally inoperative.
Water from a new fresh water Source will not be affected by Ms. Quagga provided waters are not comingled !
ONE MILLION acre feet a year is a lot of fresh water for California to continue to ignore ...
The people of California need to know, as Paul Harvey would say, "the rest of the story".
For nearly five (5) years, California, its entire legislature, Division of Water Resources, and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California have been offered a entirely NEW Source of fresh water that will yield ONE MILLION acre feet each year for California !
All parties have been GUARANTEED that development of the Source will not damage the water rights of anyone, anywhere or the environment. The Source is also legally available and economically feasible to develop.
The Source was offered to the Bureau of Reclamation to resolve the controversy between San Diego and Mexicali and assure that Lake Mead continues to function as it was designed for various beneficial uses, including power generation.
A full disclosure of the Source to each of these entities has been offered on a FREE no obligation, confidential basis. All entities claim that they cannot hire third party attorneys & engineers to independently examine the aspects of the Source and report back confidentially as to whether or not the Source warrants pursuit and/or development.
A confidential disclosure is appropriate because the eventual pursuit and development of such a vast natural resource will best be served with the coordination and cooperation of many potential beneficiaries. A mad rush to the Court house based on individual agency needs will only lead to endless litigation which California certainly doesn't need.
The MWD has been assured that development of the Source will not interfere with the efforts and plans it has made to secure viable water resources for the millions of people it serves. Environmental groups such as Environmental Defense have been offered a viable mechanism to restore many endangered estuaries such as the Salton Sea. In addition, the Source can also be utilized to provide huge amounts of renewable energy by utilization of existing storage facilities for peak power generation and water for geothermal development.
Maybe ....just maybe....there is another additional fresh water Source for California to investigate...?
Ray Walker (Retired Water Rights Analyst)
waterrdw@yahoo.com
Posted by donniehr42 on March 5, 2008 at 7:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Now that they are keeping us out of the lake how do we get a refund on our boat passes.
Posted by ReadMyLipsNoNewTaxes on March 5, 2008 at 8:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
1 year, yea right.
The same type of arguments have been used to close down motorcycle riding areas before in the past. The lake is gone, you will never be able to bring your own boat on it again.
Posted by mco on March 5, 2008 at 11:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't hear any swimmers, recreational boaters, skiers, etc. complaining. Oh, yea, they already are not permitted to use the lake. I had no shoes, then I saw a man with no feet........
Posted by vcsexplorer11 on March 5, 2008 at 11:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
They should dam the Sespe Creek for fresh water. That water is wasted by running into the Santa Clara River.
Posted by single_usa_man on March 5, 2008 at 12:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Now that outside boats are banned, Will the rental boats and boat storage fees stay the same or increase? They will loose alot of money by not having 30,000 boats per year pay for entry into the lake, So will the day use fees and campsite fees increase?
Posted by harlan on March 5, 2008 at 1:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If the board were to allow people to store their boats at the lake for 65 days, out of the water, they could use their boats at the lake. That big parking lot by the snack bar would be a good place to store them, since the regular storage area is already pretty full.
By the way, plenty of people won't be affected by this ban, and those are the people who already store their boats at the lake. I guess those folks are going to have a lot less competition for all of the good, quiet fishing spots until the ban is lifted.
Posted by joefox on March 5, 2008 at 8:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
WOW I cant believe this!!! First Ventura County takes the land from Hoffman to make a lake and now Quagga takes it from them!
Posted by dan on March 6, 2008 at 12:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Cachuma is next, I just received a "Notice of Public Hearing" to discuss a request from the Cachuma Operations and Maintenance Dept. to temporarily close the lake to outside boats.
Posted by RelaxPeople on March 7, 2008 at 11:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
casistas sucks, and it sucks that there are not many more options in terms of lakes.
Posted by tle0220 on March 7, 2008 at 9:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm just curious, because I don't know much about the Quagga mussel, is it possible for them to just inspect all boats going into the lake, rather than shutting the lake down?
(Requires free registration.)
Comments on this site are to be used for the discussion and/or debate of issues related to our stories and editorials.
Comments should not stray from the subject of the story or editorial.
We don't allow the following:
We reserve the right to delete comments and/or ban users for these or other reasons we deem necessary.
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.